Make your own delicious dairy and sugar free dark chocolate at home. It's easy to make and only contains 4 ingredients. Better yet, you know exactly what is in it, unlike commercially manufactured chocolate and can tailor it according to your personal preferences.

Imperial

Metric

Ingredients

Method

Place the cocoa butter in a microwave-safe silicone bowl. Microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring with a silicone spatula intermittently, until the mixture reaches between 105F to 113F and is completely liquified.

Stir in the sifted cocoa powder, stevia and ground vanilla powder. Mix until well combined. Taste for sweetness, adding more stevia if required.

Cover a cool bench top with parchment paper. Alternatively, use a sterilised marble bench top. You need to use a surface that won't get warm from the chocolate and will stay nice and cool.

Pour the mixture onto the parchment paper or directly onto the sterilised surface, and then spread the chocolate around constantly with a spatula until it reaches a toothpaste-like consistency. Watch my video to see how I do it.

Scrape the thickened chocolate up and place back in your bowl. Re-heat in the microwave in 5-second bursts, stirring between each zap, until it reaches between 82F to 93F and it is completely liquified. Stir until all lumps have been removed.

If you accidentally heat it to over 93F, all is not lost. Keep heating the chocolate until it reaches between 105F and 113F and then pour back onto your surface and move it around again until it reaches a toothpaste consistency again. Then return to the microwave and heat until it reaches between 82F to 93F.

Tempering chocolate gives it that lovely 'snap' when you break it into pieces. You don't need to temper your chocolate to eat it, but we think it makes it so much nicer. Tempered chocolate will also allow it to remain solid at room temperature and in warmer weather. If you choose not to temper your chocolate, simply melt the cocoa butter, stir in all other ingredients and pour into your chocolate mould. Non-tempered chocolate will need to be kept in the fridge as it melts a lot more easily than tempered chocolate.

The tempering process requires movement and precision with your temperature. Use a digital thermometer to ensure you have an accurate reading of the chocolate's temperature at the two key phases.

It is best to store your chocolate in a cool area, rather than the fridge, to prevent condensation appearing on it. The exception to this is very warm weather which will melt the chocolate.

Water seizes chocolate. For this reason, do not use vanilla or sweeteners that contain water. Use powder or oil-based liquids instead.

Once you have mastered this basic dark chocolate recipe, get creative with flavours. I love to add things like freeze-dried fruit, nuts, seeds, spices (like chilli), or a pinch of salt for a sea salt dark chocolate. Let your imagination run wild. Share your new flavours below as I love hearing what my community come up with.

Ingredients

Method

Place the cocoa butter in a microwave-safe silicone bowl. Microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring with a silicone spatula intermittently, until the mixture reaches between 40C to 45C and is completely liquified.

Stir in the sifted cocoa powder, stevia and ground vanilla powder. Mix until well combined. Taste for sweetness, adding more stevia if required.

Cover a cool bench top with parchment paper. Alternatively, use a sterilised marble bench top. You need to use a surface that won't get warm from the chocolate and will stay nice and cool.

Pour the mixture onto the parchment paper or directly onto the sterilised surface, and then spread the chocolate around constantly with a spatula until it reaches a toothpaste-like consistency. Watch my video to see how I do it.

Scrape the thickened chocolate up and place back in your bowl. Re-heat in the microwave in 5-second bursts, stirring between each zap, until it reaches between 28C to 34C and it is completely liquified. Stir until all lumps have been removed.

If you accidentally heat it to over 34C, all is not lost. Keep heating the chocolate until it reaches between 40C and 45C and then pour back onto your surface and move it around again until it reaches a toothpaste consistency again. Then return to the microwave and heat until it reaches between 28C to 34C.

Tempering chocolate gives it that lovely 'snap' when you break it into pieces. You don't need to temper your chocolate to eat it, but we think it makes it so much nicer. Tempered chocolate will also allow it to remain solid at room temperature and in warmer weather. If you choose not to temper your chocolate, simply melt the cocoa butter, stir in all other ingredients and pour into your chocolate mould. Non-tempered chocolate will need to be kept in the fridge as it melts a lot more easily than tempered chocolate.

The tempering process requires movement and precision with your temperature. Use a digital thermometer to ensure you have an accurate reading of the chocolate's temperature at the two key phases.

It is best to store your chocolate in a cool area, rather than the fridge, to prevent condensation appearing on it. The exception to this is very warm weather which will melt the chocolate.

Water seizes chocolate. For this reason, do not use vanilla or sweeteners that contain water. Use powder or oil-based liquids instead.

Once you have mastered this basic dark chocolate recipe, get creative with flavours. I love to add things like freeze-dried fruit, nuts, seeds, spices (like chilli), or a pinch of salt for a sea salt dark chocolate. Let your imagination run wild. Share your new flavours below as I love hearing what my community come up with.

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3 thoughts on “Sugar Free Dark Chocolate”

Hi Natasha
I don’t own a thermomix sadly (it’s on my wishlist for Santa to bring me one day!). The key to successfully tempering chocolate is: temperature control and movement while it changes temperature. If you can set the temperatures per the recipe, then you should be able to make it in your thermie. Let me know how you go if you do make it this way!
Rebecca